Strength
He came, probably for a hundreds time, to look at her calm sleeping face. It was peaceful, serene even. And he still could not believe it that it came from him and the power that gentle tiny face held over him. It almost made him forget all that happened before he saw her. Almost.
He never expected this. He never expected to be here so long. He never expected to live through it all in the first place. And even more so, he did not expect his life to change this way.
But here he was. Standing in front of a crib and watching her sleep face.
***
He got home in one of his cars, this time it was a luxury SUV that he preferred for every day getting around and parked it next to his Ferrari. As he got out of the car, he looked around the garage that was bigger than some people’s house. He just realized that this garage felt warmer to him than the house that he worked so hard for. It was one of those hilltop mansions that people dream of having. Just as he once did.
As he walked in, he hung up his car keys, put away his shoes and put on slippers, as walking on a marble floor did not feel as pleasant as he once thought would. He made his way into the kitchen and opened the fridge to look for a snack.
“Honey? Are you raiding a fridge again?” Said Britney. All she had on was a semi-open night gown on her slim, tall body. Her wavy long blond hair was falling down her slender shoulders. Even he noticed it. “Why don’t you get Alfred to prepare you something. Isn’t that why we keep him around?”
“That’s ok. I am just looking for something quick and I will be right up.” He spoke.
“Ok. I understand.” The woman said, her voice saying the opposite. “I will wait for you upstairs honey.”
“That’s a beautiful night gown.” He said as if flirting, but his heart just wasn’t in it.
She blushed and looked at him a little sidewise. That meant to be seductive, but to him it felt forced and artificial.
He could not understand why he stayed with her. Sure, she was a beauty that almost made it in the movies on her looks alone. Almost. He was never a guy to judge people by looks anyway. But that what you did when you just took your startup public, and your shares doubled in value in each of the last three years, you dated a top model. But for now, he just wanted to sleep, because what also came with that was fourteen-hour workdays with meetings for lunch breaks and even when he did go out for dinner it was also with one or another business partner or perspective client. That was it! That’s why he had her around! She was phenomenal in those meetings. She mingled with the wife’s and made him look successful.
“Sir.” A man walked into the kitchen.
“Hey, Alfred.” He answered. He always liked talking to Alfred. He was the one thing he loved about this house. Alfred was the caretaker of the property.
“Did you see the news, sir?” Alfred spoke.
That was an unexpected question from Alfred. But they did talk about a lot of different things.
“No. Anything interesting?” As he spoke, he looked up at Alfred and something just wasn’t right.
“You should watch it.” Alfred spoke and as if to underline it, he went into the living room and turned the TV on.
On TV there was Los Angeles covered with smoke and fires.
“Wildfires got into the city?” he said and realized that was at best highly unlikely. “Riots?”
“So far no one claimed responsibility for the attacks.” Spoke the TV anchor. “It is happening all over the world, not just United States. All major cities got hit. Los Angeles, New York, Paris, London, Tokyo, Beijing, Sydney, Beirut, Moscow, Tehran, Lagos…”
The person on TV continued to speak, but for him it just stopped registering. His first thought was – terrorists, second – what will happen to his stocks? And only then did the bigger picture started to form in his mind. It happened all over the world. In the countries of all different religions, races, and government. Who would do such a thing?
“We have a live crew from the streets of New York.” The TV changed from the images of areal LA to the street view of New York’s time square.
It was a scene of horror. There were cars turned over, some burning. People running wild. Smoke everywhere. Then camera stopped on a man with the microphone.
“This is Josh Campbell, live from the streets of New York. As you can see, we are in the iconic times square and what we see is terrifying.” The camera view expanded to include the scene behind the reporter. “It is still too early to tell what really happened here, but it looks like 9/11 all over again.”
At that moment a silhouette of something that looked very much like an animal, or a bug could be seen running by at incredible speed. Then another. And then a third one stopped and pierced a person right behind the reporter through with what looked like two dagger-like appendages.
“Holly shit!” Said the camera man. “We have to go!”
As the reporter turned, one more of those creatures ran up and cut him in half. The camera man dropped the camera and felt in such a way that it looked straight into dead reporter’s face, but it was probably the camera man that we could hear screaming. And then the screaming stopped.
The view was cut off and switched to the studio, where a pale reporter was looking at the camera speechless for a minute before he managed to say. “We apologize for the graphic views, but this is a life transmission.”
His phone started ringing and got him out of stupor.
“Tom, have you seen the news?” asked a voice on the phone.
“Yes.” He answered.
“What the hell is going on?” The voice sounded hysterical.
“Calm down. Let me make few calls and I will get back to you.” And he hung up the phone.
He managed to speak to a few of his most connected friends, some were in the government, but nobody knew anything about what was going on. And they all were in panic.
“Honey, it’s getting late.” Britney spoke from the top of the steps.
He turned to look at her, she was trying to look seductive with her gown slipping even lower down her shoulders. No matter how frightened he was Alfred still stared.
“Britney, honey. Something really serious is happening.” He spoke and turned the volume up on the TV. “You need to see this.”
Britney pouted and made her way down to check what he was talking about. She looked at the TV while he was trying his best to find out what was going on with no luck. So, he did what he could. He locked the gates and initiated full house lockdown.
Finally, all the money he had spent on the doomsday preparations was paying off.
***
It has been four months now since it started. And he was still locked down in his Malibu Mansion. At least all the security measures he paid for started to pay dividends. The invaders were not a problem yet, but the looters were. A few times somebody tried to enter the gate, but reinforced steel held up and a few warning shots scared them away. And with all the supplies he had, the solar power and the water gathered in the reservoir he could stay here almost indefinitely.
By now the government did figure out one thing – the invaders did come from space. This was an alien invasion. A weird one, but still an alien invasion.
“Honey. You have not come to bed all this time.” Britney started.
“Britney, dear. Ever wondered why I never married you?” He spoke.
“Yes. But you are so busy. I understand. You work so much.” She answered.
“Fuck, no. I work so much because you are here.” He finally broke down. “I have not married you because I do not care about you.”
She looked at him with her big blue eyes.
“I did not love you. It’s just that you are so good in those damn business meetings. You make all my colleagues and their wives happy. I was using you for business.”
Britney exhaled. “I guess, it was always coming to this.” She spoke calmly. “I never bugged you about it because love never had anything to do with this. I used you to get me places and to start my own business.”
They looked at each other for a while. Britney fixed her hair, smiled, looked him in the eyes and spoke. “So, honey, what will you do to get us through this?”
He had to give it to her – she had guts. But he said nothing and just walked away into his office.
***
He realized that in all this time he called so many different people, but he did not even bother to make sure his brothers were aright. He tried calling them with no luck. And it hit him. What was he doing with his life?
He walked out of his office a day later and headed for the garage. Both Britney and Alfred looked at him in confusion.
“What are you doing?” Britney asked.
“Alfred, you have all the keys and know how to use all the security systems. Here.” He handed him a piece of paper.
Alfred looked at it and looked back up even more confused.
“The house is yours. I even wrote up a contract, signed it, and got it notarized. Freaking layers are still working.” And he headed to the garage.
“Honey?” Britney kept on looking at him with terror in her eyes. “What are you doing?”
***
When he walked into the military post there was a man in his mid-twenties sitting behind the desk. The man looked up at him with stern look.
“Sir, this is a military post. You should not be here.” He spoke.
“I would like to sign up.” He spoke.
“To sign up for what?” Man asked slightly confused.
“To serve.” He answered.
“Okay, but this is not a right place.” Man spoke.
The man pushed his wheelchair from behind the desk. One of his legs was missing.
“I understand sir.” Tom answered. “But if I try to make it to the right place on my own, I might not make it sir.” It was true. It was getting more and more dangerous out there with both aliens and looters wandering the area.
The man behind the desk picked up the phone and called his superior officer, spoke something and a few minutes later a young man in uniform missing an arm showed up.
“Sir, follow me.” They walked for a good hour till they reached a field office.
“So, you want to sign up?” asked an officer.
“Yes, sir. I do.” The man answered.
“And why is that?” the officer asked.
“Because I am not doing any good sitting on my couch, waiting to die. I thought I could kill some bugs before I waste away.” He answered.
“Well, we could use all the men we can get.” The officer answered after a minute of hesitation. “Private, take the man to the training facility and issue him his gear.”
“Yes, sir.” They were about to walk out.
“What’s your name recruit.” the officer asked.
“Tom Robbins.” He answered.
Both the officer and the one armed private looked at him and then at each other.
“Holly shit!” The officer spoke. “I thought you looked familiar. Come to think of it, you look exactly like you looked on the cover of Forbes magazine. Well, we definitely could use a man with your organizational skills.”
Tom did not reply, just followed the private out the door.
Once they arrived at the training facility, he was issued new gear and was led to the barracks with all the new recruits. It was not what one would expect a fresh recruit facility to look like. Well, the facility was exactly what it was supposed to look like. It was the recruits that were the problem. The first wave of recruits was all the young men and women between eighteen and twenty-seven years of age. Second was a little bit less restricting. Now anyone that could fight was being enlisted. With humanities future being at stake all needed to fight and with the casualty rate being what it was… Besides, the damn bugs were everywhere, and hiding was not really an option anymore. It was safer in the military.
“If you could please not mention my name to anyone, I would appreciate it.” Tom spoke in the officer’s ear. The officer looked at him, said nothing and just showed him to his bunk.
***
Tom found the training to be much easier than he expected. He was always in impeccable physical shape and opposite to what he thought following orders came natural to him.
The routine was what made it easy for him. He left the training as a squad leader. He always had something that made people follow him and all the leadership training he did help.
All until the first real battle. As they met the enemy for the first time, he saw guys hide and cry, he saw guys be heroic. Himself, he was terrified, and he still could not tell if he pissed his pants or not. And after he came back, he sat on his bunk till someone ordered him to take a shower.
***
He had no idea how many battles he had seen. All he knew was that he was with his team near former LA. What they used to call Calabasas. They cleaned the area house by house.
“Tom, I think it’s clear.” A soldier spoke. “Let me check.”
“Wait lieutenant.” Tom answered and moved ahead of him.
He cleared almost all of the house as he opened the door to what must have been a bathroom, and he saw a curled-up bug. He opened fire as the bug split open, and a sea of smaller bugs spilled out. He kept on firing, but there were just too many. One of them jumped up and stabbed through his arm.
After that it all got blurry, but he could swear that the helicopter on their way back flew over his old house close enough to see inside and he could swear that he saw Alfred and Britany having dinner together. But just as likely it was a hallucination, a product of his own mind.
***
Tom was sitting on the exam table as the doc was bandaged his arm, checked if he had feeling in his fingerprints. He realized this was an actual doctor doing it herself. It was not strange, but this could be done by a nurse. Come to think of it, it was the same doctor he recalled the last few times working on him. That was a little strange.
“Hi, doc.” He spoke. “I am Tom. I am afraid I did not catch your name.”
“That’s because I did not give it to you.” She answered not moving her eyes from the work she was doing.
“Hm. Why not?” He asked.
“You did not ask.” She answered and kept on working.
She tightened the bandage and looked at him as she did so. “Can you feel it?”
“Yes.” He spoke.
He did not just feel it, it hurt like hell, but he was used to the pain by now and mostly ignored it. It was the warm feeling that he felt that was unusual.
After a few moments of silence, he finally said. “So, what’s your name doc.”
“Sammy.” She said and finished the bandaging of his arm. “This should do.”
And she looked at him with her big dark eyes. There was that sadness that everyone had now, that heaviness that this insane war brought. But besides that, there was warmth and kindness in them.
“Please, try not to mess it up again.” The doctor said. “We do have enough people that need our attention and tending to some hot-headed squadron commander is not what I want to waste my time on.”
“Believe me, I really like myself in one piece too.” He spoke.
She looked him in the eye and spoke while he was trying to say something else smart. “Bullshit. You have a death wish and you know it. But those men that follow you, they don’t.”
“I would never send my men into unnecessary danger.” He spoke softly.
“I know. I am sorry. It’s just too much death around.” She sat down next to him. “And your squadron gave me work than any other.”
He looked down and said nothing for a while. “I am sorry. If I could give my life for any of those men, I would. But I have orders, and I do not get to choose so, I tell myself that we do it for the people.”
“And how is it working for you?” She asked.
“Not very well, but I have to do it for all the people that are still alive.” He spoke. “Somebody has to.”
They sat together for a while not saying anything.
“Would you like to meet next time we have down time?” he finally asked.
She said nothing. She just leaned into him and buried her head in his shoulder. She wrapped her arms around his and just sat there.
***
He was back on the same doctor’s table. This time he had lacerated the left side of the rib cage. Not a big cut, just a four-inch clean cut, but still, it needed to be stitched up. And once again Sammy was there to take care of him.
“Can you just for once not be the first to jump into the fight?” Sammy was muttering trying to get to the wound over her bulging belly. “You have someone to live for.”
She smacked him on the shoulder, halfway kidding.
“I try, but it is the job.” He replied.
“Do not give me that nonsense!” She replied. “You find the way to survive.”
He said nothing. But by some his face could have been called a smile.
“You promise me!” she demanded.
“I will do what I can.” He spoke.
“You will survive!” She spoke quietly. “And I do not want any excuses.”
He hugged her tighter. He wished he could promise it to her.
***
The outcome was finally secured, and the earth was winning. Finally, they could say that humans will survive. There were no more bugs coming and they cleared the area one mile at a time.
Thet were on a routine mission, as the helicopter was flying over the ruins of the city. Most of the buildings were still standing, and that was what made clearing the area so hard. City by city, building by building. Today, it was the city that used to be Houston that they were clearing.
The pilots looked at each other, then said something and then the helicopter made a sharp turn and headed back towards the base.
“What is going on?” He asked.
“It’s the base.” The pilot answered. “Somehow the buggers found a hole in the disposal and dug through it.”
His heart sank. It was the first time in a long while that he got scared. He was terrified. He could jump into a burning building full of bugs without a second thought, but the thought of them being in danger just took the breath out him.
He jumped out of the helicopter while it was still in the air and ran for the medical facilities. He could see the fire. He saw it from the helicopter, luckily it was still standing as he ran into it and ran into a bug. It had a medic in his grips in his eyes in shock, split in half. He started firing and did not stop till there was just a pile of limbs where the bug once was.
Then he ran to the doctors’ quarters and there she was. She was looking at him with terrified eyes, holding on to the chair to stand. There was a stain just below her belly.
“It’s happening. Now.” She said and sat down.
He said nothing just faced the only exit. Not a minute later there was a bug coming through, while Sammy tried to stifle the scream of the labor pains. He did not look, just fired. He positioned himself between the entrance and Sammy and soon the bug stopped moving, but the moment the first bug fell, the other came rushing in. He kept firing, and when the other bug rushed in and pierced him in the abdomen, he just kept firing.
They found Sammy on the ground in the puddle holding a newborn baby girl. And he was propped up by three bug legs piercing him through, in front of a pile of dead bug parts, with the gun out of ammo, but still clicking.
***
“It’s a miracle he’s alive. He lost so much blood.” A doctor was talking to Sammy.
She did not look much better herself, but she was standing.
“He will pull through.” She said and walked up to his bed, while the doctor shook his head in disbelief. “You have a baby girl, and she is beautiful. You must live.” She whispered in his ear.
***
He remembered the doctor’s disbelief when he pulled through. But he had no choice. He had to. For them.
He did not see any more action. And the fight was all but done. So, when the military needed a person to command the forming settlement around the base they made him the commandant of the civilian part first. And when the first election for the fancy named president came along, he was elected.
So now, he took another look at her eyes before he went out there. It filled him with resolve. He needed, no he had to, build a world where she did not need to be afraid. A kinder world. A better place.
He took a deep breath and smiled. This will be a labor of love, he thought.
